Vegan raviolis

Let me start off with, these were A-MAZING! So yummy and fresh and like pillows of love.
I made them with the recipe for pasta dough and tofu ricotta filling from The Conscious Cook cookbook and topped them with basil arugula pesto. The only hard park was kneading the tough dough for ten minutes by hand, but worth it.

Baklava

Today I made some GF vegan doughnuts, and they didn't turn out so well, sure they look good in the photo but they were dense and dry. :(
So with that disappointment looming I had to make something I knew would be yummy, and I wanted it to include the leftover phyllo dough from the beggars purses, so I made baklava.
Oh how I love your flaky, syrupy, nutty goodness.
P.S. a hint of rosewater in the syrup makes them all but irresistible.

Pasta with tomato basil cream sauce and balsamic onion beggars purses

Recipe request again, vegan cinnamon rolls

Here you go Linda have fun making these and I hope you enjoy!

For the dough

1 packet dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup non dairy milk at room temp (I use soy)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon (I use Saigon cinnamon)

about 3 cups flour

For the filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup regular cane sugar

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1/4 cup melted margarine

For the frosting

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese 

1/4 cup margarine

1 tsp pure vanilla extract  

2 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the cream cheese and margarine and vanilla, then add the powdered sugar a little at a time and beat for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Place in refrigerator until your cinnamon rolls come out of the oven.

Preheat your oven to 375degrees  and grease an 11 by 13 inch rimmed baking pan.

In a large bowl combine yeast and 1 tsp sugar and warm water, let sit about ten minutes until foamy.

Add the rest of the sugar, milk, oil, salt, cinnamon and 2 cups of the flour, stir until most of the flour is incorporated then add the rest of the flour (and more if needed) to the dough by 1/2 cup fulls until you get a soft dough. 

Flour a cutting board and knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, until it's nice and smooth. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. Once dough has risen punch it down and then let it rest for 10 minutes, in the meantime prepare the filling by mixing together the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Lightly flour your cutting board again and roll the dough out in a 1/4 inch thick rectangle around 18 by 12 inches or so. 

With a pastry brush or your hand, spread the melted margarine over the dough and then sprinkle the filling mixture over the entire surface of the dough leaving about a 1/2 inch border at the end of one side. Now tightly roll the dough into a log and cut into 1 inch thick sections, place them in the greased baking dish about 1/2 inch apart put them in the oven for 18 to 22 minutes until light golden brown. While they are still nice and hot spread the frosting all over and enjoy! :)

pine-nut-and-basil seared "chicken" with mushroom beurre blanc, braised kale, and roasted fingerling potatoes

Yes I know, that is quite a title, but it is oh so appropriate for this amazingly scrumptious bit of vegan heaven. Ever since I got Tal Ronnen's cookbook The Conscious Cook I have fallen in love with him, his use of ingredients and flavor combos are glorious and  he is heaven sent to us vegans out there and I'm so thankful that he can show non vegan/vegetarians how yummy a healthy animal/eco friendly lifestyle can be. This is the first dish I made from the book and it was love at first bite! My non vegan family loved it and I am super excited to make it for my non vegan friends. This picture doesn't do it justice but I hope it's enough to make your mouth water. ;)

Recipe for GF banana chocolate chip cake with sunflower seed frosting

I was asked for the recipe I used to make this cake awhile back and I have just now remembered to find it and blog it (sorry rachel!). It seems like a bit of work, especially if you don't have some of the ingredients just laying around like the GF flours or the sunflower seen butter, but it's worth it to go get them. 

Now on the frosting, you just add 2/3 cup of sunflower seed butter to it, and I buy pre made vegan marshmallow fluff online but hopefully you can find some where you live. 

(if not I think the frosting will live without it, just use less sunflower seed butter.)   =)

Ratatouille and cinnamon rolls

Yum.

 Dinner was scrumptious. I made ratatouille from some farm fresh veggies I picked up in cali and it turned out really yummy. Then I made my best cinnamon rolls yet, they were fluffy with melt in your mouth goodness and smothered (the way I like it) with "cream cheese" frosting. I used Saigon cinnamon which is from Vietnam and has such an amazing spicy rich flavor, I'll never go back to normal cinnamon after this. 

Try it! :) I bought mine at Costco hehe.

(all thanks to Lina's family) 

 

Vegan chedder biscuits and papaya salad

The other day I found this interestingly different papaya poppy seed salad dressing and decided to try it out. So for dinner last night I through together some mixed greens, tomatoes, and vegan blue cheese and topped it with the new dressing accompanied by some biscuits  I made from this recipe.